FTI Automated Costing System (ACS)

An enterprise costing and feasibility solution for sheet metal components

FTI ACS sheet metal software for the automotive industry - exploded car parts simulation

Enterprise Solution

Providing the information required to proactively identify and address material utilisation and forming related issues.

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Talk to an expert and discover how Hexagon can support your organisation.

Cost and design engineering software solution for sheet metal components

Hexagon’s premier formability analysis, blank development, and blank nesting tool is used to identify material utilization and design changes that will ultimately reduce material costs by 3-10%.

FTI ACS identifies and targets components that do not meet material utilisation targets and/or show regression from legacy models. Makers will see measurable improvements in overall material utilization and Body-In-White weight.

The data produced by the system also facilitates the identification of potential formability issues at a very early stage in the product development life cycle. By addressing these issues at the design stage, makers should also expect a reduction in the number of formability related engineering changes after designs are released to manufacturing.

Making such changes earlier in the process has also been proven to reduce time to market and collaboration lag.

Features in FTI ACS

FFA - Carcass of a sedan car on white 3D illustration

Running large groups/sets of parts automatically utilising knowledge-based templates for processing.

Fast and accurate blank shape generation, producing fully optimized blanks and nesting layouts for cut-off dies, one-up, two-up, and mirrored nesting configurations. This allows for accurate cost per blank based on supplied input data and material properties.

Multiple costing scenarios are simulated in minutes determining material utilization and scrap rate

Program Managers can monitor the material yield for an entire platform

The results of FTI ACS can be uploaded to customizable reports and/or a database for a Real-time, interactive decision support dashboard using PowerBI, allowing for on-demand review of the latest result data. Program Managers can monitor the material yield for an entire platform or platform sub-system on a regular basis to track MUL progress and identify components with poor scrap rates, drill down for deeper analysis and reporting using interactive charts and images, and provide a custom user experience.

Your benefits with FTI ACS

Scientific physics-based approach identifies formability issues at the product design stage, reducing ECOs
Identifies product design changes that improve quality, material utilisation, and reduce weight and costs for optimal material usage
Develops minimum blank size and ensures no blank overlap
Accurately identifies splits and wrinkles using Forming Limit Diagram (FLD), Safety Zone in addition to Thickness Strain, Major/ Minor Strain, etc.
Calculates Springback to predict issues for tooling and provide information for Tolerance Negotiation
Reports summarise product design issues and material utilisation providing first level communication between product and tooling suppliers (internal/external).

"FTI ACS has been an important piece of our “Set Based” Enablers to utilize mechanisms to examine multiple designs/solution sets, early Design Reviews, R&D, Supplier Tech and Design Efficiency.
Ford was able to improve the overall sheet metal utilizations significantly as a result of utilizing FTI ACS."

Bruno Barthelemy

Chief Engineer Body

Ford Motor Company